Saturday, October 1, 2016

KAMASI WASHINGTON & THE NEXT STEP OPENS THE UMS JAZZ SERIES WITH A PERFORMANCE HEAVY ON FUNK, SHOWBOATING, BUT LIGHT ON JAZZ

Kamasi Washington

For two good years now the jazz saxophonist
and bandleader Kamasi Washington, 34, has been all the rage, receiving
high-profile write-ups in magazines such as GQ, Rolling Stone, The New York
Times Magazine, and DownBeat. Some of the write-ups implied the California native has put the jazz world on his shoulders and is carrying it into the
future. Washington’s triple-disc debut “The Epic” was one of the best jazz albums of 2015. It was indeed a wonderful outing and a solid example the saxophonist
deserved all the back patting he's received.

Friday
evening, at the Michigan Theater, in the heart of Ann Arbor, MI, Washington and his group The Next Step opened
the University Musical Society’s 2016-2017 series with a 90-minute set best
described as neo-funk with some traces of jazz. It was the group’s first time
playing The Ann Arbor Detroit area. If you attended the concert hoping to get a
repeat of the spiritual experience that “The Epic” caused, chances were you
left the concert a bit disappointed.

Washington & The Next Step performed some music from “The
Epic”.
Washington is talented and charismatic. He plays aggressively. All last night, he was blowing so forcefully, I
feared his head was going to explode before the concert ended. He cites the iconic saxophonist John Coltrane as
a big influence. Listening, to Washington loud and rambunctious blowing, I
wondered if saxophonist Maceo Parker was also a big influence.

As a bandleader,
Washington isn’t a ball-hog. Some of the members of The Next Step are Washington’s childhood friends, and Washington
shared with the capacity audience some humorous
stories of growing up with them before featuring the members on select
compositions.

Save for Quinn, who has a lovely voice,
and who stood stage left gyrating seductively
most of the evening; the other musician's solos were heavy on showboating. Coleman
was the most egregious showboater, toggling between the keyboard to
the keytar.

A noteworthy point of the
show occurred when the Washington’s, Quinn, Mosely and Porter left the stage so the drummers could engage in a fun “cutting contest”. The entire concert was over the top, but many of the attendees
were in heaven listening to The Next Step’s funk-inspired brand of jazz. The
90-minute set felt like a jam session where aggressive playing and showboating
was the order of the evening.